Daily Times

During last financial year Pakistan’s economy has registered a 5.28 percent growth. By any yardstick this growth rate is quite good. Would the dividends of such growth spontaneously trickle down to the low-income strata of society? The previous cycles of higher economic growth have betrayed this trickle-down approach. The well-being of citizens is something more than cold numbers and statistics. For instance, Bangladesh and Nepal, with less per capita GDP as compared to Pakistan, have recently performed better than Pakistan in key social and human development indicators. All South Asian nations presently enjoy better Human Development Index ranking than Pakistan. This state of affairs requires us to think what went wrong. A quick glance at the vision statement of founding father and the subsequent promises enshrined in the Constitution can help in reorienting the direction of state policies.

In his famous inaugural address of 11th August 1947, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah described the future contours of the newborn state in quite unequivocal terms. That speech, both as vision statement and as a source of principles of policy, manifestly tells that the basis of nationalism which the Quaid envisioned was the welfare of the citizens. The Quaid expressed his concept of a welfare state in clear terms in his speech: ‘if we want to make this great state of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people’.

The Constitution of Pakistan makes binding commitments regarding the welfare of citizens. The Article 38(a) of the constitution states: ‘The State shall secure the well-being of the people, irrespective of sex, caste, creed or race, by raising their standard of living, by preventing the concentration of wealth and means of production and distribution in the hands of a few…’. The clause (d) of Article 38 explicitly guarantees that ‘The State shall provide basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, housing, education and medical relief, for all such citizens, irrespective of sex, caste, creed or race, as are permanently or temporarily unable to earn their livelihood on an account of infirmity, sickness or unemployment.”

The vision statement of the Quaid and the subsequent constitutional promises leave no ambiguity about the centrality of well-being of the citizens in the founding philosophy of state. The people of Pakistan deserve a political economy of welfare and social security no less than growth and national security. The general argument against feasibility of higher investment in social development and welfare measures includes a trite technocratic view of public finance limitations. If there is a collective will the resources can be generated.

According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2016-17, during the last financial year tax revenues were 12.6 percent of the GDP. Tax revenues as percentage of GDP are nowhere near the countries like Sweden (43.3 percent) or even Turkey (30 percent) but this is higher than several developing countries like Bangladesh (8.5 percent). In addition to tax revenues, new resources for welfare funding can be explored without putting extra burden on existing tax payers. For example, Mongolia is the first developing country which has started a regular child grant programme in 2012 which is solely financed by allocating a fixed share for all the children of Mongolia in proceeds of mineral resources.

Welfare interventions, as already promised in the Constitution, can build a direct relation between citizens and state. This kind of relationship has a potential to forge a durable welfare-nationalism providing every citizen strong reasons to have tangible stakes in state and nationhood

One recent positive development is the beginning and progressive expansion of multiple welfare initiatives under the auspices of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).During 2016-17, the BISP distributed approximately 103 billion rupees as unconditional cash transfers to 5.43 million poor women as regular disbursements. In the impact evaluation report of the BISP, the UK based Oxford Policy Management has observed that these unconditional cash transfers have proved quite effective in empowering the women. The success and achievements of BISP indicate that with political will a wider welfare umbrella can be gradually provided to citizens of Pakistan. According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2016-17, 6.5 percent population of Pakistan is of age above 59 years. It cannot be an impossible deal if the state provides a guaranteed old age pension to every citizen of this age group. With exclusion of existing civil and military pensioners the coverage of remaining number of old citizens would be quite affordable. Similarly, the most vulnerable but numerically small population groups, like the transgender people, can be provided a citizenship income to enable them an honorable living as a citizen until and unless the society provides them respectable employment opportunities.

It is also important that the welfare provisions are made in a manner which protects their dignity. Generally, for the poor beneficiaries of state provided social services and poverty relief measures, the poverty becomes a qualifying condition to receive benefits and accompanies a stigma. One must be called ‘poor’ to become beneficiary of state provided social services and social security. The Article 14 of the Constitution promises that ‘the dignity of man shall be inviolable’. We can learn from the example of Mongolia. Welfare provisions should be made as rights-based entitlements rather than as a public financed charity. Welfare interventions, as already promised in the Constitution, can build a direct relation between citizens and state. This kind of relationship has a potential to forge a durable welfare-nationalism providing every citizen strong reasons to have tangible stakes in state and nationhood.

The writer works for the public sector and is a development policy analyst

Published in Daily Times, July 19^th , 2017.